Category: Magazine

A new Kennedy for the fleet

The USNS Robert F. Kennedy, the newest ship of the US Navy's Military Sealift Command, was christened at a ceremony at the Nassco shipyard of General Dynamics in San Diego, California, at the end of last year. The ship honours Robert F. Kennedy, who was born in 1925 and served as Attorney General in his brother John F. Kennedy's cabinet from 1961 to 1964. The focus of his time in office was his commitment to the civil rights movement and a consistent fight against organised crime. Robert Kennedy, also known as RFK, fell victim to an assassination attempt during his own presidential candidacy in 1968. He is regarded by some historians as the epitome of the modern...

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Off-the-shelf solution

When ships are older than their crew members and consume huge sums of money in maintenance, it is time for a replacement. As replacements were urgently needed for the salvage and sea tugs, the BAAINBw facilitated the purchase of two used ships - and at the same time expanded the capabilities of the navy. Almost half a century ago, the Bundeswehr last procured ships via the civilian commercial second-hand market. At that time, the RHÖN-class fuel transporters were purchased for use in the former German Navy, which are still in service with the Navy today. Now, this path has been taken once again and two different ocean-going tugs have been purchased on the civilian-commercial market.

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New Chinese Navy demonstrator corvette in Liaoning?

After the first satellite images in mid-2023 and later photos in November from the Liaoning shipyard in north-east China, it was clear that a new type of ship was under construction. This was followed by a maiden voyage in May this year and further photos this summer, leaving room for conjecture and speculation. It is obviously a test carrier or demonstrator of a very signature reduced corvette similar to the Swedish Visby class. The newbuilding is estimated to be 97 metres long with a displacement of between 1,500 and 2,000 tonnes. The stern platform has no hangar and antennas are likely to be installed in the top of the mast - similar to the Japanese Unicorn antenna...

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Brazil - a new F200 is being built under the aegis of tkMS

The F200 "Tamandaré" frigate (107 metres, 3,500 tonnes), which was built by the Consorcio Aguas Azuis consortium, a merger of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, Embraer Defence & Security and Atech in 2020, was the first of four ships to be built for the Brazilian Navy at the Oceana shipyard in Itajaí (500 kilometres southwest of Rio). The christening took place there in the first days of August, followed by the launch a few days later - commissioning is scheduled for 2025. During the celebrations, the announcement that the well-running programme would be expanded to eight units almost went unnoticed. In addition to the...

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Australia - HMAS Sydney fires SM-6 missiles

The destroyer "Sydney", the third and final unit of the Australian Hobart class (147 metres, 6,300 tonnes), which was further developed from the Spanish F100 Alvaro de Bazán frigate and commissioned in 2020, is "one of a kind". In addition to two quadruple Harpoon missile launchers, the "Sydney" has a mix of Standard Missile 2 and ESSM-Seasparrow-FK as an air defence destroyer in the 48-cell vertical launch silo - just like her sister ships. However, she is the only one to date to have recently been additionally equipped in the silo with SM-6 missiles (including improved range) and on the upper deck with two quad canisters of Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM). During RIMPAC 2024 she has now fired an NSM for the first time...

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